Sculpteo, the French company dedicated to 3D printing, is now offering some pretty cool things with their 3D Printers, and are opening up a whole new line of products with their printing technology. Right now, they’re offering custom 3D iPhone docs, that allow people to hook up their older iPods to things like Sony JBL, Bose, and other docs as well. How much is it? Well, $17 , and you can be connecting your iPhone to these older, out-dated docs.
This is a big step forward in the actual usability of 3D Printer, and one more thing moves them from just that cool thing that doesn’t have any real use, to something that people can actually use in their day to day lives. It still has a ways to go, before you can actually find a ton of useful things that you can do with it, however, this is definitely a step in the right direction.
The reason this is such big news, isn’t just because of the iPhone doc itself, but it opens up a whole new use for 3D printers. So far, having to get spare parts for our various gadgets, has been a small nightmare. Calling places up, seeing if they have the right parts, browsing through websites to find that little piece of your gadget that seems so entirely insignificant, but the whole darn thing just won’t work without it, or lose a lot of its functionality. Spare parts have given gadget lovers a hard time ever since there were first gadgets to be loved. Now, however, what if you could just download a quick schematic, and then print out that missing piece for your iPod doc on the fly? Pretty amazing.
Sculpteo founder Clement Moreau said: “This story and this adapter is opening a new field of 3D printed spare parts for a lot of different devices. Battery covers, clips, docks, handles … a lot of things can be lost, or become unusable because some other device changed or has been updated,” … “We really see 3D Printing here as a way to work smoothly in a moving environment, where big companies have really good reasons to change standards from time to time.”
This new 3D printing technology, could be put into your local store, such as your local Best Buy, and when you need a part, you just call ahead, tell them exactly what you’re looking for, they print it, and you arrive to pick it up shortly after. That’s the beauty of print on demand… One thing is for sure, it’s definitely nice to see old hardware adapters be brought back to life by some simple technology that gives you the right pieces, right when you need them, and not a minute too soon… Can’t wait to see what they do with this tech next.